Top Mobile Publisher: Apple's iAds Are 'Above And Beyond What We've Seen' In The Past

Apple might have a challenge getting advertisers to commit $1 million for the first iAds.

Getting publishers and app makers to use those ads? That will be easy.

We just spoke with Justin Siegel, CEO of Mocospace, who told us Apple's mobile ad team pitched him on using iAds in his app.

Justin will use Apple's iAds for his app. He says "they're gorgeous, and there's no comparison in the mobile ad world."

What's Mocospace? One of the biggest mobile social networks out there that nobody talks about. Justin says his users are too "blue collar" for hot tech sites like ours or TechCrunch to cover. Not enough "shiny happy people" on there, says Justin.

Regardless, he says the company is profitable with revenues in the 8-digit range and a staff of 30. Mocospace has 11 million users and serves up 3 billion impressions monthly. Its biggest market is on prepaid feature phones.

Justin resisted building any Mocospace apps because he did not want to deal with the headache of fragmentation. He focused on a good mobile web site.

But, his board members, LPs, advertisers and investors all asked for an app, so they rolled out an app for Android and iPhone a few weeks ago. Interestingly, Justin says Android downloads are 2-3 times that what's happening on the iPhone.

Justin says Mocospace works with all the major mobile ad networks including AdMob, Quattro, Millennial, Google and others.

He calls the iAds "phenomenal" and "above and beyond" what he's seen elsewhere. He likes the quality of the iAds, and he thinks its smart of Apple to keep people in the apps as they view the interactive advertisements.

Despite his enthusiasm for the product, he has plenty of reservations about iAds. "What's the fill rate going to be?" he asks. In other words, will Apple be able to provide enough advertisements to keep up with all the impressions he will produce? He's skeptical about the long term chances for Apple to consistent enough get high quality advertising to fill the demand.

Justin will still be using AdMob and other partners to back fill whatever Apple doesn't get. If Apple's iAds do work, he says they will generate significantly more revenue for him than any other mobile advertising.